Through Reaching HEALthy, Mariano will be embedded in the Free Library’s Central Branch. She will connect individuals with resources to address existing health concerns, provide preventive care tips, and offer in-house screenings for blood pressure, height, weight, vision, and hearing, along with advice on what to do if the results fall outside normal ranges.

Through Reaching HEALthy, Mariano will be embedded in the Free Library’s Central Branch. She will connect individuals with resources to address existing health concerns, provide health education, and offer in-house preventive screenings for things such as blood pressure, height, and weight, along with advice on what to do if the results fall outside normal ranges.

“The library is a place of social capital; it’s a place people see as a safe haven,” Mariano says. “If I can provide library visitors something similar to what a health clinic can provide in a less-intimidating environment, then why shouldn’t a nurse be there?”

Mariano’s inspiration for Reaching HEALthy came during the fall of her senior year at Penn. As part of a community health nursing course, she and her fellow students implemented health programming in the Paschalville Branch of the Free Library. While there, Mariano had several brief conversations with library visitors who lacked access to reliable health information.

The library is a place of social capital; it’s a place people see as a safe haven. If I can provide library visitors something similar to what a health clinic can provide in a less-intimidating environment, then why shouldn’t a nurse be there?

- Melanie Mariano, 2016 President's Engagement Prize winner

“If I’m having these small interactions in this six-week period,” she says, “I can only imagine how many stories go untold and how many individuals fall through the cracks, by no fault of their own.”

With support from the course instructors, including Penn Nursing Senior Lecturer Monica Harmon, her PEP mentor, Mariano set out to transform the course’s community engagement component into “something a little more permanent and a little more prevalent,” she says.

She established a partnership with the Free Library, whose leadership was eager to give visitors the chance to improve their health literacy.

“Our focus at the library has been on health literacy, getting information to people,” says Autumn McClintock, the Free Library’s strategy coordinator. “Adding in this element of person-to-person care really provides another layer of depth to our services.”

Harmon, Mariano’s mentor, says she sees Reaching HEALthy as a way “to answer the call not only to have health information in the library, but to have someone who can help guide you toward resources to take the next step.”

Ultimately, Marino plans to work as a nurse practitioner in a community clinic setting. She credits the President’s Engagement Prize with supporting her in pursuing her passion.

“I really think that if this opportunity wasn’t available, I would have just had this idea and figured there was no way to implement it,” Mariano says. “The availability of this Prize is telling students, ‘What you see as important is important and you have every right to pursue it.’”

At a Glance

Student

Melanie Mariano

Project

Reaching HEALthy

Summary

Mariano is partnering with the Free Library of Philadelphia to assist library patrons in obtaining health information, medical counseling, and preventive health services. Her project employs a “one-stop-shopping” approach that will actively disseminate health information, provide care, and allocate resources in an efficient way.

Hometown

Bergenfield, NJ

Graduated

May 2016

School

Nursing

Connect

Contact

Blog

Related Projects

Vaishak Kumar (C'16)

Kumar is utilizing cost-efficient technology and novel research to help farmers in India boost their productivity. He is using mobile technology to improve farmer education in India, where the plight of farmers — who represent a significant portion of the country’s labor force — continues to be of great concern.

Kriya Patel (C'16)

Patel is helping women about to be released from Riverside Correctional Facility, an all-female facility in Philadelphia, apply for and secure health insurance and identification prior to release. The health insurance will allow these women to stay on their much-needed medication, which will aid in the reentry process.

Jodi Feinberg (Nu’15)

Feinberg is designing, implementing, and evaluating a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation model for home care, with the support of the New York University Langone Medical Center and the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.